"Hurricane · Hunters" rushed into the eyes of the typhoon of the large hurricane "Ilma" and observed from the inside



On September 10, 2017 local time in the United States,Landing on the mainland of FloridaLarge hurricane Irma (Irma) that has done damages wide areas by strong wind and rain. At the time of landing, we are weakening the power to the second "category 2" from the bottom of the five stages, but still a violent wind of 50 meters per second (about 180 km / h) is striking each place. Meanwhile, the team "Hurricane · Hunters" consisting of about ten members rushed into a small aircraft, entered the typhoon, penetrated the walls of the clouds, entered into the "eyes of the typhoon" We are doing activities to observe.

NOAA Hurricane Hunters | Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations/about/hurricane-hunters

Hurricane · Hunters is an AmericanOceanic Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) team, a small business jet "Gulf Stream IV-SP"And a turbo prop patrol aircraft"Lockheed WP-3D Orion"We are using two small aircraft for typhoon observation.


A movie shows how Hurricane Hunters takes off at Florida airport on P-3 and heads for Ilma's observation.


Hurricane Hunters who leaves the airport in Lakeland, Florida. This movie was taken on September 8th.


Unlike recent aircraft, the cockpit of the P - 3 aircraft where many analog meters remain. Although the basic design is old as it is the model which made the first flight in 1958, it seems that it is suitable also for the purpose of striking a typhoon because of the high strength of the airframe and high deviation speed. It is also introduced in the Japanese Self Defense Force, and there are many people who have heard the name "P - 3 C patrol aircraft".


When it finally rushes into the cloud


Rushed into a thick cloud of hurricanes. The surroundings become dark, and the raindrops flow to the window glass tremendously.


In the typhoon, the crew is for observationDrop sondeTo collect weather data.


From the tube extending to the left side of the crew, drop the "spon" and observation equipment outside the machine.


After a while, thinking that the neighborhood is getting brighter ... ....


We reached the eye area of ​​the typhoon. The walls of typhoon's eyes are not so clear, either because the power has already weakened, but in movies taken a few days before the next posting you can see more clear "walls".


A news program "USA Today" is a video of NOAA that is on YouTube. I can understand the state of the crew actually observing.

Looking into the eye of the historic Hurricane Irma - YouTube


It seems that a briefing is taking place before entering. As of September 5, when this movie was filmed, Ilma kept the power of the highest class "Category 5".


Crews going through the clouds. The fuselage rattles and shakes, you can see that the mascot "Kermit" of the frog attached to the windshield is shaking strongly. By the way, the nickname of this P - 3 's aircraft is also named "Kermit".


When you pass through the clouds, there is a huge cloud wall in front of you. This is the eyes of the category 5 hurricane. It looks as though the plane is stopped, but if you look closely it is approaching the vortex of the clouds in front of you, you can see how the vortex itself moves slowly and creepy. The situation inside the cabinet has changed gently as before and Kermit's mascot is also hanging adultly.


Hurricane Hunters has made such observations and said he is acquiring important data essential to hurricane's way of predicting the way. Valuable data are obtained because there are dangerous flights that can not be imagined with regular passenger aircraft.


You can see various images and images captured by Hurricane Hunters from the following pages as well.

Media | Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations/media

In addition, Ilma who landed in Florida seems to be continuing Kitakami while raging. On Twitter, a lot of videos are released although they are good. "@ SimonStormRiderHe measures the wind speed near the eyes of a typhoon by myself. The following tweet of the comment "117 miles per hour (hour speed approximately 188 km: wind speed of about 52 meters)", I'm sorry but this is a stupid thing, and it is natural that comments are given for granted.


Also, the image of the aerial photograph of the state just after passing through Ilma. Everywhere is water rush, and the appearance of the shock that the place which can say that "It was safe" can not be found anywhere is contained.

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in Ride,   Video, Posted by darkhorse_log